Dragon Wars: Flames Of Pain (Book 3)

Chapter 14 (Josephs PoV) A Bit Late

I stood there for a little while, as I waited for the cart from the well to get all the way back up, so that I could put it in my big bottle that I used most days to put water in. I sighed a bit, as I felt like I should be excited for this, but at the same time, John had done his best to make sure that I was not.
He told me nearly every day, that it was nothing to be happy about, and none of it was fun. I had to assume that he was correct as well, as it was not often that he lied to me. If anything, I had it easier than the rest of the people that were here, as they were all sleeping in uncomfortable tents, like I had, before we had come to this place.
At the same time, I already knew that it was not going to be easy for me at all, due to the fact that I had to be the leader for all of them, and not just that, I also had experienced first hand, what it was like, as none of them had to worry about all of the dreams like I had to.
People wanted to say that they wished that they could have my power, but they really did not know that it was not fun at all. I understood why they thought that it was all cool, and why they all thought that they wanted the power to be the leader of the group, and to look cool to everyone.
John knew it as well, but he did not say a word to them for some reason, which I was not sure as to why that was so. I some times thought that he just did not like me. I shook my head though, as I tried to erase all of those thoughts at the same time as well.
I knew that my focus did not need to be on that at the moment, as I did not want to think of all of the dreams. I needed to walk in to this with an open mind, and to let everyone know who I was, and what I was going to do. I wanted people to look up to me, but for a different reason that just that.
I pulled up the bucket of water that I had pulled out if the well, and I then began to pour it in to the big bottle of mine. Once I had done so as well, I blinked a few times, to try to remember what it was that I was even doing in the first place.
I then remembered what it was that was going on, and what it was that had led me to this point, and this moment in my day. I then nodded to myself, as I looked around at the area, just to make sure that no one else was around me at the moment.
I let out a bit of a yawn, as I had not gotten the best of sleep last night either. I was thankful that no one had been around to see it, as I had forgotten that Adrian's grandfather had designed the land to have several wells all across it, and this was the one for the people that were in the house.
There we plenty of other wells across the land, that the legion mates were near at their camp sites. They still were afraid of all of the dragons, as they could not get the jest of the fact that my uncle had put a spell on the place to hide us from dragons.
I shook my head, as it made sense as to why a lot of them did not believe in magic at the same time as well. I tried not to think on all of that though, as I knew that I had to keep a bit of an open mind when it came to meeting all of the new faces.
I was going to have to let them know that I was so called 'A powerful man', though I really did not look like one, and I was going to have to tell them that I was going to be the one that was going to lead them. Well, with the help of John of course.
Technically John was going to be the leader for a while, until he could teach me all that I needed to know, and how to be a leader as well. I had to keep that in mind, as it was not like I was going to be walking in to all of this, with my hands tied, and on my knees.
I looked around, as I was a bit surprised that no one else in the house had come out to get some water. I had been out here for quite a while, and I would have thought that maybe Padre or Uncle would have come out here to get water for themselves at this point, as they too were also going to be a part of the legion.
I suppose that I was going to be the last person that was going to be showing up for the meeting though, and I knew that my father had already gone up to meet with the rest of the people. I also wondered where Mariah and my sister were at, at the same time as well.
I had to figure that my sister was helping Adrian with the farm, but I was also a bit worried for her, because she had been a bit upset that she was not going to be a part of the legion. She was coming up on being 16, and she was a woman as well. There was no way that neither I, or John were going to put her in the legion.
John had made it clear, that if I were to die in this war, than my sister would be the last hope for humanity, and he had said that he could not risk her dying with me. I shivered at the thought of dying, but at the same time, I also knew that I should not be afraid of death as well.
I would get to go meet up with my uncle and my mother. It put a smile on my face to think about a negative thing, and to turn it into a positive like that. I shook my head though, at the same time as well, as I had been sitting here for quite a bit of some time.
John had told me that I needed to hurry as well, as it was just about near the time that we were supposed to be meeting up with the legion. I knew that he was not all that happy when I was late to important stuff such as this.
I blinked, and then I started to walk over to the place that was far in the distance, that John had told me to go as well. At first, I would have been a bit confused, but Adrian had showed me all across the farm, and I had noticed that it was well laid out, and it was easy to remember.
I looked around at the fields, as it was a nice place to live at, I could not lie. Adrian was lucky to have been born in to a family such as this. It felt kind of like the opposite for me however. I shook my head, as I just wanted to enjoy the nice view of the farm, rather than to be in my head.
I smiled as I looked around at the farm as I loved living at this place. It was a lot better than the city that I had grown up in. It certainly was a lot better than living out in the woods, like we had been at before we had come to this place.
I looked up at the sky at the same time however, as I realized that the sun was to nearly half way in to the sky at the same time as well. I stared at it for a few seconds, until it hit me, as to why that had been so important. I had been told by John, that I should be there around noon.
It seemed as if I had less than 30 minutes at the moment, and I was not even quite sure how far away the place was that I was supposed to be at in the first place. This was a very big farm that Adrian owned, and I knew that it went on for Kilometers from the house, in a certain direction.
It was not just the fact that I did not want to be late, which would most certainly be a bad starting look to all of the legion, but I also had been told that I needed to be a little bit early, so that I could discuss what it was that I was going to say to the legion, with John.
He had told me that Zoe, and a few others were going to be there as well, to see what I was going to do and say. I was a bit worried, but I knew that I had to stay calm. It was not the fact that Zoe was going to be there, that scared me the most out of all of it.
It was the fact that these were some of the most important people in the legion that were going to be there, staring at me from around the table. I felt like I was already a bit late, and I did not want to even think about the repercussions that I was going to get, for being late.
I shook my head, as I began to stop walking, but instead I started to jog over to the place that I was supposed to be at already. I hoped that I was not going to get in trouble for this either, as I knew that it already was going to be a bad first look to all of the older people that were in the legion.
I began to jog faster and faster, as it did not seem as though I was even getting to hear any noise from the thousands of people that were going to be there. It started to worry me a bit, as I began to move even quicker, be each passing second.
As I went further and further across the straight path that took me to the place that John had told me to head over to, I then saw a bit of a clear path ahead of me. I stopped for just a couple of seconds, as I realized just how quick I had been going.
I was lucky that I had not dropped my water all over the place, and had it spill on the ground. I sat there for a bit, just to regain my breath, as I had not even recognized just how fast I had even been going. I was not in the best shape right now either, as I had most certainly been eating good.
I also had not gotten to the part of my training that was grueling either. I had only been taught how to use a bow, and how to shoot it at moving targets. I had been getting fairly decent at it, as I was not hitting the bullseye, but I was at least hitting the target from almost a hundred meters away some times.
John did not seem to have quite the proud look on his face that I was hoping to see. At least he nodded to me, and that was a least step 1, as I was not sure why I could even expect that man to be proud of me. He did not seem to have very much emotion, almost as if he did not have a soul.
I knew why as well, as Zoe had told me how close he had been with my uncle, and how he used to be a happy, and positive person. She told me that he had not been the same, since the night that they had found him out in the woods, bleeding out.
I was never close with my uncle, as he was hardly ever around. We lived at his place for some time, as we did not have any where else to go. I was very young when I remembered my cousin. I had been perhaps 6 or 7, and my cousin had been around the age that I currently was at right now.
That was when my cousin had mysteriously gone missing, and they had said that he been killed me some one. I now knew that it was not a some one, but it was a dragon that had killed him. I had been told that it had put my uncle past a breaking point.
That was when they had really started to begin to search, and kill all of the important dragons. As I had been told by John, that much unlike this war, the red dragons were not on their side when they went to hunt, and kill a bunch of dragons.
I wondered who it was that had killed my uncle, and my cousin. I wondered if they were still alive, and if they were, than I would make sure that they would get what they had coming to them as well. I tried my best not to hate the red dragons for it, but I was not sure if it might have in fact been a red dragon that had done it.
I shook my head, as I looked over at my fist, to see I had them squeezed up, as I realized just how angry I had just been. I did not like to feel anger, as it was the complete opposite of the way that I had been told by my mother, ever since I was a young child.
She was gone now, but at the same time, that message was still flying through my head to this day. I closed my eyes, as I realized that I had been standing in this spot for a minute or so, and I had wasted a fair amount of precious time, that I might get in even more trouble from John for.
I opened my eyes, as I suddenly began to realize that I was at the correct clearing to be in, as I was now hearing the voices from a lot of people, from a far ways away, that told me that I was at the right place. I hoped that they were not talking about me, and about how I was late.
At the same time, I knew that, for them I was not late at all. The meeting that had been called, was not going to be for a bit later in the day. This was just the time for every one to meet each other, so that they knew who a lot of the people were, before we started the meeting.
I still knew that for me, even though no one else knew it, I was going to be late. I knew that John was not going to be happy with it either. I shook my head, as I realized that each moment I stood here, just thinking things through my head, was every minute that I would get in more trouble.
I also remembered why I had stopped in the first place, as I had been trying to regain my breath. I shook my head this time, as I blinked as I looked up at the clearing that was ahead of me. I then nodded to myself, as I then began to walk over to the place.
It was a lot further than I expected, as I began to grow a bit anxious, by every step that I took over to the clearing. I closed my eyes, once I got right up on it, as I let out a bit of a sigh to myself at the same time too. I had to keep telling my self that it was all going to be okay.
I then opened my eyes, and I began to walk into the large clearing, where I could hear lots of very loud voices talking to one another at the same time as well. As I walked in to the clearing, I expected a lot of heads to turn towards me, since this meeting was mainly about me.
I was a bit surprised, when I realized that it was not the case at all. All of the eyes of everyone, just seemed to be on one another, as it looked like no one seemed to give a care in the world that I had just walked in to the place with the rest of them.
I looked around at the same time too, as I then began to understand why that was the case in the first place. I saw that there were other sections of the clearing, where the field had a spot that walked in to the clearing, and there was a lot of big groups walking in to it.
As I viewed around the clearing, I then began to grow a bit nervous than I first had been, as I began to realize just how many people were here at this place. I was never much of a public speaker either, as I began to get a bit nervous as I looked around me.
I then shook my head at the same time, as I spotted some thing that managed to catch me attention at the same time too. I looked at it for a bit of some time, as I then blinked at it at the same time as well. I shook my head though, as I then realized what it was that I had been looking at.
It was a very big tent, and it was just about 100 meters away from the spot that I had just walked in to the clearing at. It was right near a bit of some crops, and as I stared at it for a bit longer too, I then began to realize why it was so close to the edge of the clearing.
It was clearly the place where a lot of the important people were going to speak to one another at. It made sense as to why no one was any where near the place too. I looked at it for a bit more time, as I had a bit of a blank look on my face.
I thought about walking in to there, as I felt like they were already having the meeting. I did not want to walk in though by myself, being a bit late as well, as I knew that it would be quite a bit embarrassing if I was to do some thing like that.
At the same time, I felt like they would not start the smaller meeting in there without me, as I was the whole reason that this meeting to the legion was being called in the first place. Maybe John had just made sure that I was not going to be late, by putting the time that I was supposed to be here, a lot earlier than it actually was.
I looked around, as I expected John to be somewhere around that area, waiting for me, but that was not the case at all, and I shook my head, as I had to figure that the theory that I had come up with, had in fact been true.
I then began to look around a bit more, as I saw a lot of people at big tables, as I hoped to see someone that I recognized, so that I could go to talk to, so that I did not look like the bit of an odd man out. I looked around for a bit of some time as well, as I then spotted Uncle and Padre talking to one another.
I blinked a few times, as I wondered if that was in fact real. I had always thought that Uncle hated Padre with a passion, but as of late however, I had caught them talking to one another, almost as if they had put away the past, that they had with one another, and now became friends.
I shook my head though, as I began to walk over to them, before a bunch of people noticed me, and I got a bunch of unwanted attention on me as well. As I got closer to the both of them, they stopped their conversation that they were having with one another.
I did not want that to be the case, but at this point I did not care, so long as a bunch of people were not stating at me right now. Both of them turned their head, and their eyes over to me, seeing that it was just me, they then nodded to me.
I stood there for a few moments, as I waited for them to keep talking to one another, but they just stood there for a bit more time, with a bit of a blank look on the both of their faces. I was a bit confused as to what it was that was going on, as I then began to speak to the both of them.
"So... What's up you guys? Sorry to interrupt you... You can keep talking..." I said to the both of them. They looked at me for a few seconds, with a bit of blank looks on their faces, as if they had not quite understood what it was that I had just said to them.
I rolled my eyes, as I felt like I was talking to no one at the moment. As I looked around at the big table I was at, seeing that thankfully no one had noticed me still. I then turned my head back over to the both of them, as it seemed like they had their eyes on something that was all together completely different.
I was a bit confused by it as I just stared at them for a bit more time, with my eyes squinted at them as well, to let them know that I had no clue as to what it was that was going on with the both of them at the moment. They seemed to be paying me no attention however.
I blinked a few times, as I was a bit confused as to what it was that was going on with the both of them at the exact moment. I stared at them for a bit more time, until finally they turned their heads over to me, and seemed to notice me.
I was a bit confused as to what was going on today at the same time as well. It seemed to be, that it was not just them that seemed to be paying me no attention. I shook my head though, as they finally seemed to be looking at me now, as Padre then began to speak to me as well.
"Uh... Joseph... John has been looking for you for like an hour, and he doesn't seem to be too happy... He is right-" He began to say, but then he stopped at the same time too. I knew what it was that he was about to say to me however, as I then turned my head around.
I saw that John was standing right behind me as well, and he did not have quite the happy look on his face either. It was as I had first thought, as I knew that I had wasted far too much time just thinking to myself at the well. John had his eyes squinted at me as well, as he then began to speak to me.
"Nice for you to show up Joseph... Seems like you were having some fun time with Julia... Don't know if you noticed, but you are a bit late..."